Central Sudanic is a family of about sixty languages that have been included in the proposed Nilo-Saharan language family. Central Sudanic languages are spoken in the Central African Republic , Chad , Sudan , South Sudan , Uganda , Congo (DRC) , Nigeria and Cameroon . They include the pygmy languages Efé and Asoa .
6-635: The Lendu language is a Central Sudanic language spoken by the Balendru, an ethno-linguistic agriculturalist group residing in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo in the area west and northwest of Lake Albert , specifically the Ituri Region of Orientale Province . It is one of the most populous of the Central Sudanic languages . There are three-quarters of a million Lendu speakers in
12-555: A distinct language. A draft listing of Nilo-Saharan languages, available from his website and dated 2012, lists Lendu/Badha . Demolin (1995) posits that Lendu has voiceless implosives , /ɓ̥ ɗ̥ ʄ̊/ ( /ƥ ƭ ƈ/ ). However, Goyvaerts (1988) had described these as creaky-voiced implosives /ɓ̰ ɗ̰ ʄ̰/ , as in Hausa , contrasting with a series of modally voiced implosives /ɓ ɗ ʄ/ as in Kalabari , and Ladefoged judges that this seems to be
18-649: A more accurate description. Central Sudanic Blench (2011) suggests that Central Sudanic influenced the development of the noun-class system characteristic of the Atlantic–Congo languages . Half a dozen groups of Central Sudanic languages are generally accepted as valid. They are customarily divided into East and West branches. Blench cites the following classification: Mangbutu–Lese (5) Mangbetu–Asua (2–3) Lendu–Ngiti (2–3) Moru–Madi (10) Birri (1) Bongo–Bagirmi (40 languages) Kresh (2) ? Sinyar – Formona Sinyar–Formona
24-578: Is sparsely documented and its placement in the western branch is "provisional". Starostin (2016) finds support for Eastern Central Sudanic ( Lendu , Mangbetu , Lugbara , etc., concentrated in the northeast corner of DR Congo) but not for the western division, which would include Bongo–Bagirmi and Kresh scattered across Chad, the CAR, and South Sudan. Mangbetu (2–3) Mangbutu–Lese (5) Lendu (2–3) Moru–Madi (10) Bongo–Bagirmi (40 languages) Birri (1) Kresh (2) Starostin (2011) notes that
30-662: The DRC. A conflict between the Lendu and the Hema was the basis of the Ituri conflict . Besides the Balendru, Lendu is spoken as a native language by a portion of the Hema, Alur , and Okebu . In Uganda , the Lendu tribe live in the districts of Nebbi and Zombo districts , northwest of Lake Albert. Ethnologue gives Bbadha as an alternate name of Lendu, but Blench (2000) lists Badha as
36-470: The poorly attested language Mimi of Decorse is suggestive of Central Sudanic, though he provisionally treats it as an isolate. Boyeldieu (2010) states that the inclusion of Kresh has yet to be demonstrated, but Starostin (2016) finds good support, with Birri being its closest relative. Lionel Bender (1992) classifies the Central Sudanic languages as follows, with Central Sudanic bifurcating into
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